2025 Festival of new plays
Join us for the Texas Festival of New Plays on Saturday August 23rd starting at 4pm!
This one of a kind event in southeast Texas will perform 2 new and original plays! Read below for more information about the shows, authors, directors, screeners and our judge, Carey Crim!
Entry to the festival is by donation (suggested donation of $10), with a minimum of $5 to continue to give new directors, actors, and playwrights the opportunity to see new works on stage!
A Jew's Christmas
Written by Stephanie Scott
Directed by Phillip Gray
A female stand-up comic tries to come to terms with her dysfunctional family.
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Stephanie Scott
Actor, director and teacher at AMDA, NYC.
Multiple awards for screenplays Drama Queen and The Answer Girl, including The Big Apple Film Festival, Golden Script Competition, Genreblast, BlueCat, Portland Screenplay, Chicago Women Film Festival and Cinequest, among others. Her stage play, Examination was a 2024 Austin Film Festival Second Rounder and was presented at Playful Substance, NYC. This one’s for Edwin, who taught me to love theater.
Phillip Gray
Phillip has a long history in community theater as an actor, director and organization leader. His tenures include president of Port Arthur Little Theater and ActOne SceneOne Theater Company, the latter of which he is also a founding member. Phillip’s past stage roles include Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird, Norman from Old Golden Pond and Melvin P Thorpe from The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. His most recent show at Stages was in Harvey. Phillip met his wife, Roxane, while doing theater at Lamar University and both have performed on local stages for decades. Phillip is thrilled to be a part of this production.
Star
Little Star
Dad
Mom
Dede
Little Henry
Teen Henry
Abby
Aunt Beanie / Tweetie
Narrator / Bert / Poppy / Happy the Dog
Goggy / Bomba
The Wilde and Rambling Consequences of Being Virginia (in Texas)
Written by Cathleen Freedman
Directed by Eryn English
Seventeen-year-old Ginny Rosenfield feels like she lives in the wrong place (Cuero, Texas) in the wrong time (present-day). When she wins a contest to meet her favorite author, she must do the impossible and turn her family and neighbors into overnight zealots of her favorite Turkish novel and TV series Durukan ve Tijen.
Cathleen Freedman
Cathleen Freedman is an ambidextrous writer from Houston, Texas. She writes for Vogue editor Alexandra Macon’s site, Over The Moon. A Marshall Scholar finalist and Fulbright semi-finalist, she graduated summa cum laude from the Honors Program at Fordham University in New York City, where she double-majored in Political Science and Film & Television. She also graduated from Houston’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts in the Creative Writing department.
Eryn English
Eryn is a native southeast Texan, graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, and Theatre teacher at Odom Academy.
Ginny
Ginya
Grandma Virginia
Grandpa Herman
Gregg Galloway / Mayor Witte
Justine
Sumerya Melis
Zechariah / Jebediah
TV Presenter
Grace
Judge and sCreeners for the Festival of new plays
Screeners
Alyse Pruett
Anna Goss
Cheylyn Brown
Emily Buseing
Sarah Stemple
Sean McBride
Taylor Herring
Katherine Zipple
John Manfredi
Julia Rodriguez
Cary Crim
Carey Crim is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter. Her play Conviction premiered at Bay Street Theatre starring Sarah Paulson, Garret Dillahunt and Elizabeth Reaser. It then opened at the Rubicon Theatre in Ventura, California where it was nominated for an Ovation Award for Best New Play and then on to The Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Her earlier works, Growing Pretty, Wake and Some Couples May… all received world premieres at The Purple Rose.
Interested in being a screener for the festival next year? Email the festival director your interest!
Her earlier works, Growing Pretty, Wake and Some Couples May… all received world premieres at The Purple Rose. Wake received a West Coast Premiere at the SeaGlass Theatre in Los Angeles where it was a Critic’s Pick. Carey adapted it for the screen and the feature film (starring comedian Jo Koy) has won numerous film festival awards.
Her play, Never Not Once, was the winner of the 2017 Jane Chambers Award and a finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference. It opened to critical acclaim at The Purple Rose Theater and went on to play at Theatre Aquarius in Ontario, The Rubicon in California and The Park Theatre in London. Her play The Last Broadcast was seen globally on Zoom as part of Riverside Reads from the Riverside Studios, London. Theatrical Rights Worldwide published her one act play, Distance Learning, written for Laurie Metcalf. Paint Night, was chosen for the 2020 Kilroys List and is also scheduled for production in 2023. Morning After Grace first ran to sold-out houses at The Purple Rose Theater. It has since been seen at Asolo Repertory Theater, the Royal Manitoba Theater Centre, Shakespeare and Company, the Barter Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Florida Repertory Theatre and many more. Morning After Grace is published by Theatrical Rights Worldwide.
Carey is represented by Mark Orsini at Bret Adams and Brandy Rivers at Industry Entertainment where she is developing the television dramedy #Blessed. Carey is a graduate of Northwestern University.
With help from Jonathan Tippett, and Zach Dailey.